AuthorTopic: John by Cynthia Lennon (Read 13466 times)

Bill, I'd like to report something that Rod Murray told me in 1987 or 1988. My memory is not that great, but I did make notes from my original tape of the interview.

Rod recalled that Stuart's painting, which was entered in the second John Moores Show, did not actually win a prize in the competition. John Moores bought it, himself, as a gift for his son, whom he had noticed admiring the piece.

Rod Murray was a wonderful interview subject, but very difficult to pin down. I believe I had to phone his office at the Art College (Polytechnic) four or five times before he finally agreed to meet with me in his classroom/lab. I think he was working on the creation of a hologram project.

John Moore's did buy Stuart's 'Summer Painting', which was actually only one half a a large painting he'd done. He didn't use all the money to buy the guitar, just placed a deposit on it. The general reports were that Stuart had won the John Moore's exhibition, but I believe Rod was right. The money he received was for the sale of the painting. If he'd won the prize, he would have received a lot more money. Stuart attended the exhibition with his girlfriend Susan Williams.I was at the Jacaranda with John when Stu and Rod painted the murals, with a little help from Rod Jones. After Alan Williams claimedthat John had been involved with the painting, which is not what I recall, I contacted Rod. He told me that John had nothing to do with it. He and Stu had painted murals in the Norris Green Territorial Army HQ and Ye Cracke and did them at the Jac. Yet I've just seen something Rod has written saying that John was involved with the murals, which contradicats everything he told me and what I observed.

Having read this book myself, I feel I need to make a passing comment.

Whilst the errors are, as you say, shockingly frequent, I would also mention that this is a book that tells us a lot about Cynthia herself.

As a wife of a former band member myself, (not quite reaching the heights of the Beatles!!) I would have to say that I couldn't possibly accurately recall half the info about where/when they played, or significant facts about his childhood, etc. But I remember how it felt to see them play, observe song writing sessions and so on.

I don't want to make excuses for a startling lack of research (big mistake for Beatles circles); however, I think what attracted me to the book, and has stayed with me since reading it, was the glimpse it gives into what it was like to be Cynthia through those times. And that's probably what this book is for.

We'll have to turn to other tomes for the facts. And this site!

I agree with this post. The book should be called Cynthia, a Wife. Or something. Having read the book I don`t have any vivid picture about John. My impression is that he was so far from Cynthia that she doesn`t know what to tell us, but her remorse for the fact that she had married John at all, as she finishes her book in this way. I think it is not the best way to finish the book. The first half of her book is devoted to imposing the idea that John loved her so much and the second to the idea that Julian was so miserable and abandoned. While I couldn`t see that even from her comments which are supposed to show that situation clearly. And on every page - John loved me, we loved each other - and then - Julian was so offended, poor boy, left alone. It starts to irritate. She is definitely pursuing her line to reach her aim. And no insight into John as a person, nothing to tell about his ways, maybe some episodes from their relationship. So he remains a vague figure, distant, in the mist. Hey, John, where are you? Have you ever been with Cynthia?

I'm currently reading this book for the third (or fourth; I lost count!) time and the chapter that deals with the news of John's death, the way Cynthia tells it makes the reader feel (or me at least) like I was there; her description nearly moved me to tears. I agree wth the other posters that anyone is bound to make mistakes when re-living the past. Of the several dozen Beatles books I've read so far, this one and the one by Tony Bramwell are, in my opinion, two of the best.

I agree with this post. The book should be called Cynthia, a Wife. Or something. Having read the book I don`t have any vivid picture about John. My impression is that he was so far from Cynthia that she doesn`t know what to tell us, but her remorse for the fact that she had married John at all, as she finishes her book in this way. I think it is not the best way to finish the book. The first half of her book is devoted to imposing the idea that John loved her so much and the second to the idea that Julian was so miserable and abandoned. While I couldn`t see that even from her comments which are supposed to show that situation clearly. And on every page - John loved me, we loved each other - and then - Julian was so offended, poor boy, left alone. It starts to irritate. She is definitely pursuing her line to reach her aim. And no insight into John as a person, nothing to tell about his ways, maybe some episodes from their relationship. So he remains a vague figure, distant, in the mist. Hey, John, where are you? Have you ever been with Cynthia?

"Cynthia, A Wife" i like that! Wasn't one of the reasons why she wrote this book was more financial? (I seem to recall something about that....)You say, Jane, that John remains a vague figure, distant, in the mist.... But in a way, that tells us something about John (he was a dreamer, wasn't he?)

This book is definately a must read for all John fans, but as I said once before, it is also interesting to reas her first book and compare the two. As for reading it more than once, I dont think I will enjoy it. As you said moonbeam34, she writes really well. Especially that part when she comes in to her bedroom to see John and Yoko in bed and all she can say if they wanted to come with her for lunch (7 seas and 7 meals.... something along those lines?) and John simply says "No thank you" , as a reader i was like "eh?" i did not know whether to be angry with John or pity Cyn . I think after the 4th chapter, it gets too much.

I remember when Cynthia used to come to a few gigs and remember her sitting alone, out of the way, at Litherland Town Hall. The idea was that no one should know that John had a steady girl friend. Then Cynthia seemed to be absent from his life and when Virginia and I used to meet him at the Blue Angel he was going out with Ida Holly. At one time, when we left the Angel, we all shared a cab and we dropped Ida off at her home near Sefton Park.Later on, we discovered that this must have been the time that Cynthia was pregnant, which is why she was 'out of sight', yet John then took up with Ida for a while. She told me that she wanted to be a commere, so I fixed her up with some gigs at the Majestic ballroom and on the Mersey Beat boat to the Isle of Man.If I knew how to put pictures on the forum I'd include one of her. She moved down to London and became a model known as Stevie Holly, but we lost touch